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Welcome to the free pilot run of Immigration Daybook and our very first edition. We turn spectacle into evidence and keep you up to date with the latest news and what's coming next. Produced in part with AI; all mistakes are my own. —David Death in ICE custody at Delaney Hall renews scrutiny of medical care
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a man detained at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, died Saturday after a medical emergency. ICE says an official cause of death is still pending. Lopez-Cornejo, who was from El Salvador, experienced the emergency at the detention facility and was taken to a Newark hospital. Philadelphia Inquirer, PBS, Al Jazeera
Lopez-Cornejo's family says he had diabetes, high blood pressure and seizures and was not regularly given his prescribed medication while detained. ICE says he received proper medical care, so the family's account and the still-unexplained circumstances of his death are now at the center of demands that officials release records showing what happened. CBS News, USA Today
New Jersey officials and members of Congress are demanding an investigation, medical records and a timeline of the medical emergency, with some renewing calls to close Delaney Hall. Their demands also focus on reported limits on state health inspectors' ability to enter and examine the privately operated facility, which would restrict independent scrutiny of conditions there. New Jersey Globe
From the Recovered Factory knowledge base: ICE inspectors rated Delaney Hall Acceptable/Adequate after an August 2025 review but found 12 deficiencies across five of 22 standards. Priority findings included unlogged 15-minute hold-room checks, potato salad at 81°F and 19 suicide-watch monitoring gaps lasting 18 to 65 minutes. The report does not establish what happened to Lopez-Cornejo, but the rating did not mean conditions were problem-free. ICE ODO inspection — Delaney Hall, Aug. 26–28, 2025 UpcomingToday
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A federal court in Massachusetts said it will decide by this date whether to keep pausing two USCIS practices while the case is reviewed: shortening already-issued work permits (EADs) retroactively, and rejecting asylum applications over the new filing fee. If the temporary hold is lifted, USCIS can resume both.
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Next four weeks
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DHS wants to raise the cost of applying for US citizenship (Form N-400) from $760 to $1,330 on paper, and $710 to $1,280 online, with the appeal of a denial (Form N-336) going from $830 to $1,475. Reduced fees and fee waivers for naturalisation would end. Anyone can comment for 60 days once the proposed rule is published.
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Adults who apply to take custody of a child who crossed the border without a parent (an unaccompanied immigrant child in ORR custody) would face tighter vetting: set documents to prove identity, proof of income, and more information for background checks. Comments on the proposed rule are open until August 25, 2026.
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The comment deadline closes on the DHS rule requiring foreign nationals in the US to register with the government and give fingerprints (Form G-325R). DHS is asking whether more immigration filings should count as registration on their own, and whether to change biometrics rules for some travelers; further rulemaking may follow.
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DHS is expected to publish a proposed rule on getting a green card by investing in a US business (EB-5). It would change how Regional Centers — entities approved to pool investor money into projects — are designated and terminated, how long money must stay invested, USCIS audit powers, protections for good-faith investors, and automatic revocation of petitions.
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Employers using the extra H-2B visas Congress allows for seasonal, non-farm jobs must file a sworn statement (attestation) that they meet the added conditions. The Labor Department is asking the White House budget office (OMB) to renew that collection — the requirement itself is not changing — and comments are open until August 31, 2026.
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Missing something, or spotted an error? Reply to this email — corrections run at the foot of the next issue. Senate bill proposes state-sponsored temporary-worker visas
A bipartisan Senate proposal, the State-Sponsored Visa Pilot Program, would let participating states petition for temporary worker visas tailored to local labor needs, with federal authorities keeping control over screening and admissibility. Workers admitted this way would generally have to live and work in their sponsoring state. The measure, sponsored by Senators John Curtis (R-Utah) and Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), faces political resistance and uncertain prospects in Congress. Newsweek Justice Department highlights new denaturalization cases
The Justice Department says it filed 25 civil denaturalization complaints in a recent two-week period and calls it the largest coordinated effort of its kind. The complaints allege conduct including fraud, concealed crimes and fraudulent identities, but each is an allegation that must proceed through court rather than an immediate loss of citizenship. Fox News first reported the coordinated push; the Justice Department then published the primary announcement, while KVUE and KRQE focused on individual cases in Texas and New Mexico. Fox News, Justice Department, KVUE (Austin, Texas), KRQE (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Around the system
• A Center for American Progress analysis examines how a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo could push more green-card applicants toward consular processing outside the United States. Center for American Progress
• A federal appeals court sent the Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) case back to district court after a Supreme Court ruling, while the termination's effects on status and work authorization remain central to the dispute. Caribbean Television Network
• Community reporting explains how a federal shift in the public-charge rule — which weighs whether an applicant is likely to rely on government benefits — could affect people applying for green cards. South Kern Sol (Kern County, California)
• Philadelphia reporting follows the airport arrest of an Argentine woman with a pending immigration application who was transferred to ICE custody in New Mexico, illustrating how airport enforcement is reaching people with established work and community ties whose cases remain unresolved. CBS News
• Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is taking a wait-and-see approach to lawsuits over Proposition 314, leaving the state immigration measure's litigation posture unsettled. AZ Capitol Times
• Spanish-language reporting details the rollout of the visitor-visa bond program that could require applicants from designated countries to pay up to $20,000. Noticias Caracol
• Miami reporting follows a Venezuelan father and adult son held by ICE after arrests at Miami International Airport as deportation flights to Venezuela resume, with their family fearing they could be placed on a future flight while their immigration proceedings continue. Telemundo 51
• A Spanish-language video report follows the release of a 16-year-old Colombian girl and her father from ICE custody in Texas while their asylum case continues. Telemundo (YouTube)
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